I'll Be Home Soon
by AshieMac1985
Summary: Clint has to go on a mission, but it goes awry. He ends up injured and in hospital- but things aren't always what they seem. What happened on that mission and what exactly is his injury? Fury and the doctors have to face facts and the one certain thing is that Clint, Natasha and Director Fury will never be the people they were before the mission again. Feel free to rate/review/PM.
1. Chapter 1

Clint was in his apartment getting ready for a solo reconnaissance mission on suspected domestic terrorists. Word in the wind was that they were planning a big hit on a political summit in the coming week and it was SHIELD's job to make sure nothing bad happened, publicly at any rate.

As he packed up his gear Natasha's voice was almost incessant.

"Don't forget your sunglasses."

He grabbed them off his dresser and stuck them on top of his head.

"Yes, Tasha."

"Did you pack a spare clip? You don't want to run out of bullets- you can't pull them out of people like arrows and reuse them."

He double checked his ammo bag- all there.

"Yes, Tasha- I know. I-"

"Did you memorize your cover story? You know how important it is to not fuck that up."

"Yes, Tasha. I'm a political campaigner who is there to see the summit...I have to go. I'll be back next week if everything goes well."

"Bye, Clint. Be safe."

"Bye, Tasha."


	2. Chapter 2

The job went well, no one died and nothing noticeable happened- though things behind the scenes were frantic as usual.

The only problem for Clint was engaging the enemy in a fight and having a bullet graze his head.

He woke up in the SHIELD medical wing, strapped to the bed as he'd fought off the nurses while out cold, bandages around his head.

As soon as he woke up, he saw her.

"Tasha. Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Yeah, right here to make sure you don't give the nurses a hard time." she smirked.

Clint rolled his eyes toward the door, noticing a nurse looking in on him, "What? I'm fine."

The nurse nodded and smiled, "Of course, just checking."

"When am I getting out of here?"

"That's up to the doctor, Mr. Barton."

Clint sighed and turned back to Natasha, "I don't suppose you're going to spring me out of here early?"

"Not a chance, that's a nasty head wound, you know you're better off here until they release you."

"Fine..." he pouted.

"Get some sleep, I'll be back."

"Bye, Tasha."

"Bye, Clint."


	3. Chapter 3

The nurse turned to the doctor just out of Clint's sight. "Poor man, is he ever getting released?"

The doctor sighed and shook his head, "No, not with all the damage he's got. You saw him, he thinks he just woke up from a mission. What he did was attack another patient in the common room and had to get stitches in his forehead."

"How long has he been here?"

"Five months. He came in a few days after the accident..."

"That's a long time to be locked up, but he can't be released, I can see that. Who is he talking to?"

"His former partner, Natasha Romanoff."


	4. Chapter 4

Director Fury was standing in the doctor's office, "How's my boy?"

"He came in with full scale hallucinations, as you know. But he still has them- nothing we've tried gets through to him for long. Not medication, not therapy...every time we make a breakthrough, he loses it and attacks someone he thinks is his target on a mission."

Fury sighed, his one good eye closing as he processed that Clint was likely never going to be better.

"Do what you can for him."

"Yes, Sir."

He left, feeling depressed, Clint was broken beyond repair. It was a sad day for the Director- facing the truth, Clint had been a friend as well as a damn fine agent and seeing him like this was painful.


	5. Chapter 5

Fury was late getting home that night, having stopped on the way there from work. He stared at the simple stone marking the grave at his feet. "We really miss you, Tasha...Clint especially. He's lost without you...I don't know if we'll ever get him back. You keep an eye on him for me, I need you to do that..."

After placing a small bouquet of flowers by her headstone, Fury left- resuming his hard as nails demeanor though he didn't feel it at all.

Losing Natasha during a mission was hard on the whole team- but it was hardest on Clint who watched her die. The archer was convinced he could have saved her if he'd only done something different. He'd started replaying the accident over and over in his head and not sleeping or eating for days. soon the hallucinations kicked in. Fury and the doctors originally thought it was a combination of the trauma of losing Natasha and head wound from the enemy's bullet, but it soon became apparent it was much more than that.

Fury had Clint committed to SHIELD's treatment facility for agents in hopes that they could help. But every time Clint became lucid it ended in a relapse, and sometimes violence, once he realized Natasha was gone.

**.**


	6. Chapter 6

The next time Fury visited the cemetery he placed flowers on Natasha's grave, and then on the fresh once beside it.

"Together at last..." he murmured sadly.

During his last lucid moment, Clint took his life instead of fighting a patient or nurse- unable to lose his mind again or live with the fact that Natasha was dead. His last words were "Bye, Tasha." just like when he'd held her when she was dying of her wounds.

He went to his grave feeling he'd failed her, Fury could only hope both his agents now knew peace.


End file.
